I have been playing SH3 since release and I still have to yet see Axis aircraft attack Allied shipping in the solo campaign.

I have sent hundreds of contact reports and yet to see any support arrive.

Is this a defunct feature or has anyone actually been able to call up air support to attack a target? Note, this is in the campaign and not single missions. Any screenshots would be nice.

JU88

08-08-2005, 05:18 AM

You gotta be in range of axis air bases, and send a contact reports when you see a an enermy ship, do this and some axis planes MIGHT show up.

bogusheadbox

08-08-2005, 05:22 AM

There have been quite a few posts regarding air support.

But i think you have to be in flight range of a friendly base.

Also you have to factor in that it will take quite some time for the aircraft to arrive (if none in area).

What would be good is to find a craft within range of planes and just shadow it constantly reporting its position.

Would like to confirm it.

[edit] You beat me to it JU88

KaosxMeach

08-08-2005, 05:31 AM

Thanks for the replies.

Yeah those two factors were taken into account with the contact reports.

So it does happen sometimes? Maybe I have just been unlucky and never seen it. What do you reckon...200km from a Axis coastline would be the maximum distance?

Oh...has anyone seen anything cruiser sized or above on a patrol in the campaign as well?

JU88

08-08-2005, 05:34 AM

Yeah I sunk a nelson in lock ewe, in nov 39, there was a king george there too, but i ran out of torps so I couldnt sink it..

lecek

08-08-2005, 08:28 AM

It happens.

Forget about reporting single ships, your guy might say report sent but the radio message log doesn't. I know he lies because he will say report sent on convoys but sometimes you are too far and the report isn't sent.

Anyway, it happend for me yesterday for the first time. I around AN73 in Sept 1940. I was at periscope depth even though the weather was deck gun weather because I had already been attacked by aircraft. Good thing too there was a destroyer closing fast about 7000M behind me. I almost didn't see him because I was stalking a C3.

Anyway I lined up on him and an aircraft flew by my periscope, I was like **** I hope he didn't see me. I followed the aircraft for a second then turned to see if the destroyer was turning twards me. The aircraft left and the destroyer didn't budge. About a minute later, a bit longer then ASW planes take to come back, the plane came back and dropped bombs on the C3. The plane looked like a He-111 but I am not sure.

This event took me by suprise so no screen shots.http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

Anyway the C3 didn't sink or slow down but his back end sagged a lot and he was burning. I put him outa his misery with a single torp in the 2-3 minutes it took for him to steam in front of me.

The destroyer never twitched.

lecek

08-08-2005, 08:29 AM

I was run over by a taskforce. It had two Nelson Battleships in it. I managed to sink the first one. They were doing some 21 kts so if you are not lucky enough to be infront of it, don't bother.

Desslock

08-08-2005, 03:28 PM

so in fact you don't need to send a report to get air support??

I made a really long campaign and had ONCE supoort by a solo Ju 88 50 km off the coast of norway, against a miserable norvegian small merchant.

It's really a shame to see so few friendly planes, you can see an air-surface attack in the single mission "malta" (i guess, the one near sicily) and it looks awesome, the ship's AA makes really beautiful effects.

I modified the cfg file and increased the probability for a friendly airstrike by a million factor, but still nothing. I wiull try to increase range.

JU88

08-08-2005, 03:53 PM

Originally posted by lecek:
I was run over by a taskforce. It had two Nelson Battleships in it. I managed to sink the first one. They were doing some 21 kts so if you are not lucky enough to be infront of it, don't bother.

My IXB with a 1500 renown engine upgrade can do 21 knots on the surface when the deisel engine room is at 100% crew efficiency.
I havent hit a task force yet but that extra speed is VERY handy for overtaking merchant convoys, dodging Aircraft attacks and shaves preciouse seconds of dive time, my IXB almost dives a fast as a VII boat now, (when in flnk speed.)

Missouri23

08-08-2005, 08:02 PM

Just today I reported a small british merchant off the coast of north africa, two Ju-87's dive bombed it, both bombs hit and she sank in less than a minute. It was awesome I'll post the screenshot I got.

http://img248.imageshack.us/my.php?image=airattack7ko.png

In this shot the second bomb just hit, it took me by surprise so, the aircraft is only in the upper left of the picture, next time, I try to get a better pic.

KaosxMeach

08-09-2005, 03:49 AM

Hmm...so you did actually send a contact report? Just visual contact and the planes showed up?

I would love to see that. Did some other forum poster not say they did not send a contact report?

Trydan

08-09-2005, 06:25 AM

I've seen the Luftwaffe turn up and "steal" a cargo ship I'd found off the coast of Denmark. I didn't ask for help, they just arrived.

If I've run out of torpedoes, I'll send contact reports of anything I find, in the hope that the Luftwaffe (or those other U-Boote!) will make use of the information. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't make a lot of difference, but it is part of the fun/atmosphere of the game.

lecek

08-09-2005, 08:04 AM

I didn't send a contact report. The target was bombed.

Further I don't think you can send a contact report on just one ship. Try it and the guy SAYS report sent but there is no record of it. It even works with convoys where you know there should be a record. Next time you are in the middle of nowhere and try sending a contact report.

lecek

08-09-2005, 08:08 AM

Originally posted by JU88:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by lecek:
I was run over by a taskforce. It had two Nelson Battleships in it. I managed to sink the first one. They were doing some 21 kts so if you are not lucky enough to be infront of it, don't bother.

My IXB with a 1500 renown engine upgrade can do 21 knots on the surface when the deisel engine room is at 100% crew efficiency.
I havent hit a task force yet but that extra speed is VERY handy for overtaking merchant convoys, dodging Aircraft attacks and shaves preciouse seconds of dive time, my IXB almost dives a fast as a VII boat now, (when in flnk speed.) </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes but you still can't catch a taskforce unless it is heading your way. Further, at that speed, you see the contacts a very few minutes before they are gone. At emergency back I just had time to hit a Nelson steaming right for me. I fired a salvo of 4 at 90 degrees, the first two bounced off. I think (I can't be sure at full real), that I passed the 300M mark during my salvo shot.